Daily GK Update - 31th December 2014

1. Palestinian statehood resolution fails at UNSC

i. The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a Palestinian statehood resolution that set a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian territories by 2017.

ii. The long-anticipated draft tabled on Tuesday night drew the support of eight countries -- Argentina, Chad, Chile, China, France, Jordan, Luxembourg, Russia -- just one shy of the nine needed to pass a resolution in the absence of a veto by any of the Council’s five permanent members.

iii. The United States and Australia opposed the resolution while the United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Korea, Rwanda and Lithuania abstained.

2. Kudankulam commercial power: SEBs to pay more per unit

i. The significance of commercial generation of power from the first unit at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) will start charging money from the State Electricity Boards (SEBs) to which it sells the electricity.

ii. Kudankulam-1 has been declared a commercial unit from the midnight of December 31, 2014. “We are working out the tariff per unit that we will be charging from the SEBs,” a top NPCIL official said.

iii. R.S. Sundar, Site Director, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, said Kudankulam-1 had been generating its full power of 1,000 MWe from December 10, 2014.

3. Ronaldo voted Europe’s top footballer

i. The results of the survey showed 89 of the 144 reporters queried named the Real Madrid forward as the region’s top player,

ii. Portuguese football phenomenon Cristiano Ronaldo was voted by European sports reporters Europe’s best football player for the second year in a row.

iii. The results of the survey, carried out by Uruguay’s El Pais daily, showed 89 of the 144 reporters queried named the Real Madrid forward as the region’s top player.

iv. German goalie Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) and Argentina’s Lionel Messi (Barcelona) came in distant second and third places, with 19 and 16 votes, respectively.

4. Gmail blocked in China, Great Firewall suspected

i. Inc’s Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the world’s biggest e-mail service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the Great Firewall was to blame.

ii. Almost all of Google’s services have been heavily disrupted in China since June this year, but until last week Gmail users could still access e-mails downloaded via protocols like IMAP, SMTP and POP3. These had let people communicate using Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone’s Mail and Microsoft Outlook.

iii. The Google disruption began in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the government’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

5. Lupin’s HIV drug gets USFDA nod

i. Drug firm Lupin has received tentative approval from the U.S. health regulator to market a generic version of Prezista tablets, used in treating HIV infection.

ii. The company has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to market its Darunavir Ethanolate tablets in multiple strengths in the American market, Lupin said in a statement.

iii. Last week, the company had received USFDA approval to market a generic version of ViiV Healthcare’s Epivir Tablets, used in treating HIV infection, in the American market.

6. IRDA renamed to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India

i. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was renamed as Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India on 30 December 2014.

ii. The change in name came in to effect after the promulgation of Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, by the President of India on 26 December 2014.

iii. The amendment was done to the Insurance Regulation and Development Act, 1999 by inserting the words India after Development Authority in Section 105 of the Ordinance amends section 2 (1)(b) of the IRDA Act.

7. Union Government signed 75 million dollar loan deal with ADB for KIUWMIP

i. Union Government on 30 December 2014 signed a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 75 million dollar and 1.8 million dollar grant for Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Program (KIUWMIP).

ii. The funds will be used to improve water resource management in three towns of Karnataka, namely Byadagi, Davanagere and Harihar in the Upper Tungabhadra sub-basin. 

iii. This project will help increase water treatment capacity by 15000 cubic meters per day.